Danish punks Pleaser return with Begging Guitars, the lead single and title track from their new full-length album—and what a return it is. Released via Copenhagen indie label Part Time Records, the album finds the band expanding their sonic and emotional range without losing sight of their DIY punk attitude. If their self-titled 2023 debut established them as fierce new voices in the Nordic underground, Begging Guitars announces them as artists with staying power and something powerful to say.
Pleaser’s music has always been difficult to pin down, and that’s exactly what makes it so exciting. At their very core, they’re a punk band—sharp-edged, community-driven, and definitely ethical—but they pull from a far wider palette. Here, they blend the emotions of early emo, the energy of hardcore, and the tension of metal, all paired with classic rock melodies and experimental touches. The result is a sound that’s as chaotic as it is considered: a melodic, noisy rattle that feels both deeply personal and inclusively communal.
The album opens with the title track, ‘Begging Guitars’, a pure blast of feedback and feeling. Guitars wail like sirens—gritty, pleading, and full of pain—while dual vocalists Annie Nyvold and Suo Fei trade verses and confessions in motion. Their deliveries range from snarled fury and smooth vulnerability, embodying the album’s themes of liberation and imperfection. “Burned the script, forgot the part / I’m begging guitars to break my heart,” they sing, setting the tone for a record about shedding expectation and surrendering to their own instinct.
Across the album’s nine tracks, Pleaser creates an emotional space that feels at once chaotic and symbiotic. ‘Here for the Sins’ is a passionate ode to guilt free pleasure and unapologetic identity, while ‘Ride’ channels complete abandon with wild rhythms and an euphoric sense of surrender. There are quieter moments too, like ‘The Pounding Chest’, where the band leans into restraint, layering sparse instrumentation under whisperings of heartbreak and panic. ‘Lighten Up’ blends sharp satire with screaming choruses, turning a casual microaggression into an absolute riot. And on ‘My Fantasy’, the band moves into darker, more surreal territory—distorted and dystopian, yet still full of emotional truth in the lyrics.
What truly sets Begging Guitars apart is how completely lived-in it feels. There’s a raw honesty to these songs, a refusal to be perfect. But in all their chaos and wildness, Pleaser have created something unraveling and far from uncalculated. Oliver Nehammer’s drumming is relentless and nuanced, while bassist Olle Bergholz holds the chaos together with a low-end pulse that’s as melodic as it is driven.
Since their explosive debut, Pleaser have taken their sound from Copenhagen to major festivals like Roskilde and K-Town Hardcore Fest, and they bring all of that momentum into Begging Guitars. The band has described this album as a shift—a movement from their previous sound into something more curious, more open, more transformative and that can be felt in every track. Whether they’re screaming or spiraling into layered vocals, there’s a sense that Pleaser is creating something new and unknown – some sort of undiscovered language for anger and joy.
Begging Guitars doesn’t just push punk’s boundaries—it ignores them as a whole. For anyone craving a musical experience that’s as intelligent as it is intuitive, Pleaser have delivered a record that doesn’t simply demand your attention; it earns it.
Written by: Laura Finkler
Edited by: Nèri Cliteur
